The two Staff Council committees invited WU employees to two focus tours at the Austrian House of History on Heldenplatz, where "The Festival of Joy" was to take place that evening to commemorate the end of the Second World War 80 years ago.

A German-language tour was dedicated to the topic of "Democracy in distress" and started thematically before the First World War, shed light on the image of men at the time and the idea of masculinity, for example on the basis of election posters of the time. From the interwar and post-war period to the 1980s and 1990s, examples were used to illustrate why there was always a need for a "strong man" and why this put democracy under pressure. We learned some little-known details and got a good overview of contemporary history.

The English-language tour was a general introduction to Austrian history since the end of the monarchy. The focus was therefore on the emergence of the First Republic and the most important events afterwards, National Socialism and how it was dealt with after 1945. Information on the development of labour law in Austria, in which Austria played a pioneering role at the turn of the century, was also particularly interesting. After the guided tours, the participants were able to explore the very clearly presented exhibitions in the building on their own and were able, for example, to view the famous “Hitler-balcony” and submit ideas on how it should be dealt with in the future.

The places for the guided tours were well sought after, which meant that we were unfortunately unable to offer a place to everyone interested this time. However, we will be happy to repeat this offer in the future. We hope that all participants enjoyed the tours.

^28.05.2025

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